IT’S no use wringing our hands over why Vanessa George, the Plymouth nursery worker convicted of the most heinous of sex crimes against children, won’t identify her tiny victims.

The answer is simple: it’s all about power.

Having had every aspect of her life and her crimes picked over in court and by the media she knows that by withholding names she can still retain control over this one crucial aspect of the case.

No matter that it would ease the torture of the families involved to know once and for all whether their precious son or daughter was one of her victims.

No matter it may also help her own cause in the long run.

Vanessa George is cocky and canny enough to know that by holding on to those identities she continues to hold power and that her silence will extend her few minutes of fame into a potential lifetime of grabbing headlines.

For proof just look at Ian Brady.

The only thing we can do is hope she has a very unpleasant time of it inside prison with her fellow inmates.

Nothing jogs the memory more with people as wicked as George than a good dose of self-preservation.